Detective reveals scale of £250m Ritz fraud fantasy

North Yorkshire Police oversaw the two-year investigation which involved inquiries in both the United Kingdom and Holland that eventually brought fraudster Anthony Lee to justice.

Det Sgt Garry Ridler, who led the case, admitted the investigation team had faced major challenges in an "extremely complex" inquiry before Lee, an unemployed lorry driver from Yorkshire, was convicted yesterday of conning his victims out of 1m.

"The sheer size and scale of the deception was truly unbelievable," Det Sgt Ridler said. "The fact it related to such a world-renowned business such as the Ritz made the investigation that bit more challenging."

A jury at Southwark Crown Court in London heard Lee was at the heart of a con based on "one great big lie", convincing potential buyer Terence Collins that he was a close friend and associate of the reclusive billionaire Barclay brothers, owners of the hotel in London's Piccadilly.

But Sir Frederick and Sir David Barclay had never met or even heard of Lee and were completely unaware he was claiming to be able to sell their landmark building, valued at between 450m and 600m at the time.

Det Sgt Ridler added: "This man is your typical fraudster. He gains the trust of people through lies and once he's got them under his control, he extracts the money from them.

"Not happy with the 1m, he decided to go back for more."

Anuja Dhir QC, prosecuting, told the jury of nine women and three men: "The deal that sounded too good to be true was a complete fantasy."

The "simple but well-targeted and ambitious scam" offered the victims a tempting bargain in which they were promised everything, but were frustrated with unnecessary requests until they handed over 1m, Ms Dhir said.

Mr Collins sought the support of Dutch billionaire financier Marcus Boekhoorn to finance the 1m payment in December 2006, telling him the Barclay brothers had "secretive reasons" for selling the Ritz through a third party.

But the sale never happened, the promised paperwork never materialised and the money was never returned, the jury heard.

Lee claimed in court the 1m payment related to a separate property deal in Flaxby, North Yorkshire, which he had with Mr Collins.

During the four-week trial, Lee, an undischarged bankrupt who had a police caution for theft and was behind with his rent at the time of the scam, insisted he was just a "straight-talking Yorkshireman".

When the money landed in his account, he transferred 435,000 to a friend, Patrick Dolan, 68, who blew the money on gambling as well as paying off his mortgage and buying a 42,000 Mercedes.

Lee, who was originally living in Whixley, near Harrogate, before moving to Broad Lane, Beal, Goole, East Yorkshire, was convicted of obtaining the 1m payment by deception after more than 14 hours of jury deliberations.

But he was cleared of conspiracy to defraud between January 1, 2006, and March 30, 2007.

Retired Dolan, of Philip Lane, Tottenham, north London, was also cleared of the conspiracy charge.

The pair's solicitor Conn Farrell, 57, of Cambridge Road, Aldershot, Hampshire – who was accused of lending a "veneer of legitimacy" to the scam – was cleared of the conspiracy charge after he told the jury he was simply acting on his clients' instructions.